


Love You Like Nothing I've Had Before

by EthelPhantom



Series: Ethel's Daminette December 2019 [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Don't mind the implied/referenced character death tag, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I swear this has a happy ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lila Rossi Bashing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, alya is not a good friend, at least kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21731236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: “Huh…? How is my meter so high… Maman, what does it mean when your meter is full?”A simple, innocent question asked by a young child, likely no older than five years of age, who only knew the pattern on her arm was a meter that told something about her soulmate. She didn’t know what it was for, her parents had never told her.In a world, where one can see how dangerous their soulmate is on their wrist, as well as their name, Marinette Dupain-Cheng's meter goes from very high at a young age to zero in the matter of only a few years, until colours and her soulmate's name finally return to her world.Daminette December 2019, day 9: Soulmates AU
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Series: Ethel's Daminette December 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559191
Comments: 24
Kudos: 724
Collections: Damian Wayne / Marinette Dupain-Cheng





	Love You Like Nothing I've Had Before

**Author's Note:**

> An AU where you have a meter of how dangerous your soulmate is printed on your skin with their name in their native language under it, as well as everyone that isn’t your soulmate being monochrome to you forever. You can only see your soulmate in colour. Once you meet your soulmate, everything but other people burst into colour, and instead of everyone being black and white, they'll be monochrome in the colour of your soulmate's eyes. If your soulmate dies, the meter goes to zero, their name gets smudged and illegible, and all the colours disappear from your world. _All of them. ___
> 
> _  
> _Anyway. Here I am, back with the stories for a while. I had a lot of fun writing it. This should also remind you that I am an angst writer through and through, there was never a chance for you to avoid the angst. There's just,,, a little less of it than usually. Oh well. Have fun._  
> _
> 
> _  
> _I'll be writing the rest of this once I'm done with Daminette December as this got way out of hand but I needed to cut it down a little, soo... I'm not even 100% sure it will have only 2 chapters, but I'll try. Soulmate AUs are fun._  
> _
> 
> _  
> _You can find day 5[here](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/post/189479055491/daminette-december-day-5-fire) and day 7 [here](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/post/189525339751/daminette-december-day-7-dance-au)._  
> _

There was a meter that told something about one's soulmate printed somewhere on everyone's body. Everyone had one, whether it be romantic or platonic, but just because everyone had a soulmate didn't mean that everyone had a happy ending. Life was cruel, and sometimes you lost all the colours in your vision before you saw them, sometimes your soulmate's name got smudged and their meter went to zero before their time. Sometimes people lost their soulmates much before they ever even had the chance to meet them. Even children knew this, but it was rare that parents told their children what the meter meant until they were older. There was a reason to it, and a good one at that. 

That was also why a little girl with black hair tied into pigtails looked at her wrist with confusion and bewilderment before she walked to the kitchen where she knew her parents would be.

“Huh…? How is my meter so high… Maman, what does it mean when your meter is full?”

A simple, innocent question asked by a young child, likely no older than five years of age, who only knew the pattern on her arm was a meter that told something about her soulmate. She didn’t know what it was for, her parents had never told her. 

There was also their first name under the meter, but Marinette couldn’t read it. Originally she thought it was because she just didn’t know how to read in general, but then she learnt the alphabet well and realised they weren’t even the same letters they used in France. 

Her papa had told her that was because her soulmate’s native tongue wasn’t French or any other language she spoke. They had different letters in their language, he said. 

“Are you sure it’s high, dear?”, her maman asked, never once stopping to look at her daughter. It was understandable, she was baking, but maybe, just maybe, little Marinette would have wished her maman would have paid more attention to her. 

“Yes, maman. I drew a picture, too.”

That was right. Only she could see the meter or the name on her arm, that much she knew since she had tried to ask her parents about the name but they told her they couldn’t see it. You could only see your own and your soulmate’s one. 

She also couldn’t see her parents that well. 

Well, of course she _could_ , but they looked so boring to her. They were colourless, just like everyone but herself. Herself she could see in colour, the bright blue eyes and the black hair. Only after meeting her soulmate would she see the world in colour, but even then other humans would remain monochrome, stay in the eye colour of her soulmate. She could only ever see herself and her soulmate in full colour, or so she was told. 

And who was she to say her parents, her grandparents, teachers, everyone, was wrong? She was still a child, she didn’t know much, just like all of them always said. 

“Let me se—” Her maman just stopped as Marinette handed her the drawing. She’d made everything as similar as she could, and finally, finally her maman looked at her. 

Marinette did not like that horrified look in her eyes.

“So, I suppose it is time we explained what the meters mean, honey. It tells you how dangerous your soulmate is. Perhaps not to you, but in general. It can get lower and higher over time, depending on how dangerous your soulmate is at that moment. Usually the meter gets higher over long periods of time, and they only get to this level if the person does martial arts, but I have never heard of a meter this high on a child. That is a little... concerning. I wonder if your soulmate is alright.”

“What does dangerous mean?”

“If someone or something is dangerous, it means they can cause you harm and hurt you really bad. For example, touching a hot oven is dangerous if you don’t have oven mitts. Going with a stranger is also dangerous.”

“Oh okay. Can I have a cookie?”

“Sure, dear. You can have one.”

⬷۵⤐

The next time Marinette thought about her soulmate more was when she met a person who was writing something that looked a lot like the name written in shining blue ink on her wrist in the park. A nine-year-old Marinette was aware of the stranger danger, of course, but she thought it wasn’t too bad if she asked the person if they could help her find out what the name was. It was her approaching them, she was in a public place and she wasn’t going to go anywhere with them, it would be fine. 

“Excuse me, monsieur, but could you maybe help me?”

The man in question looked at her before he smiled at her and put his notebook aside. “Of course. What do you need help with?”

Marinette sighed in relief and sat down on the bench next to him. “Well, I saw what you were writing and it looked a lot like the name on my wrist. If I tried to write it down for you, could you tell me what their name is? I cannot read it and I don’t even recognise the letters so I cannot look it up myself”, she explained with a smile, hoping the man would help her. She didn't know what else she could do to find out their name. The man handed her his notebook and pen and told her to write the name there. She did. It took her a few minutes, but she managed. 

“I’m sorry it probably doesn’t look very good, it’s difficult for me to write”, she apologised as the man read the name. 

“Don’t worry, mademoiselle, you wrote it just fine. Anyway, their name is Damian. I wish you the best of luck with finding them, child”, the man told her. He was kind, she decided, so she pulled out a box of macarons and offered them to the man. 

“Here, you can have a few as thanks. They’re from the Dupain-Cheng patisserie, and it’s the best in Paris!”, she said happily and stood there, waiting for him to take up her offer. 

He did, eventually, which made her happy. Especially the expression he made when he took a bite was great, he seemed to enjoy it a lot. Marinette was glad, she loved seeing people smile. If there was something she found worth living for, it was making people smile and helping them find joy in life.

She waved the man goodbye before she left. After all, she’d agreed to meet Nino soon, she didn’t want to be too late.

⬷۵⤐

Marinette woke up with a choked gasp and shot up in her bed. She was panting and had her pajama shirt in a tight grip. She felt like choking and could almost taste blood in her mouth. There was a piercing pain in her chest. It almost felt like someone had impaled her chest with a sword and tried to inflict as much pain on her as they could. 

It took her quite the while to be able to focus her vision on anything. Everything was blurry and dark. But, when she _was_ finally able to see something, the first thing that caught her eye was that her meter had gone down and the name under it was smudged. She had studied the Arabic alphabet, so she could now read it by herself, but there was no way she could understand the name anymore. 

Then she realised she couldn’t see the colour of her shirt or hands anymore. 

Marinette’s eyes widened and an ear-piercing scream escaped her lungs. Her parents rushed to her room and found their little girl in her bed, crying so much her tears ran freely down her face. She was hyperventilating and clutching her shirt in her hands, her tiny body outright trembling.

Her maman ran to her and lifted her chin up with her hand, horrified when she saw her eyes were glassy and unfocused. It was most definitely worse than a simple nightmare. There was something actually wrong with her. 

“Qiānjīn, breathe. Talk to me, please, tell me what’s wrong”, her maman told her, pulling Marinette in her embrace and squeezing her tight against her chest. She kissed her forehead and wiped her tears away as her papa turned on the lights so they could see better. 

“They— he— his name— I can’t read it! It’s smudged! And I can’t see colour… The meter went down— he’s… He’s... _gone_.” 

She could barely get the words out of her mouth, but she somehow managed by summoning all her will power, her voice quieting down with each word. The last word Marinette could barely even breathe out. Once more she broke down sobbing and buried her face to her knees, curling up in a ball. 

Her maman and papa didn’t know what to say to that — their little girl, merely ten years of age, had woken up only to find out her soulmate was dead. 

There was truly nothing they could say to make it better, and so they just stayed there and let her sob her heart out. 

⬷۵⤐

A numb emptiness had settled itself in Marinette’s chest after her soulmate died. She couldn’t dress in her favourite clothes because they were all bright colours and she couldn’t bear to dress in such things when she couldn’t even see them well. It hurt too much to remember that the one she was destined to be with was gone forever. 

“What happened, ‘Nette? I can’t remember the last time I saw you wear anything but these dark colours — is it all black?”

That’s what her best friend asked her one day in class. Nino was worried about her well-being. She could barely get the words out to tell Nino that her soulmate was gone, that she would never meet them again (it felt too final to say it out loud), but when she finally managed to, Nino smiled at her sadly and hugged her tight, saying he was there for her. He was. He kept coming over to talk to her and do her favourite things with her. Even if it didn’t make her smile, she appreciated it. 

A few weeks later, her teacher had one day pulled her aside and asked how she was doing, concerned about her as she’d noticed Marinette only ever dressed in black now and there was never a smile on her face anymore. She still never failed to be kind to others, but that kindness no longer included a smile to everyone. Chloé had toned it down as well for even she knew that losing one’s soulmate was a horrible ordeal, something no one should ever have to go through — and especially not at such a young age. 

Marinette started wearing gloves at all times, scared that if she caught a glimpse of the smudged name on her wrist, she’d break down crying and that she’d no longer be able to stop. Sometimes it happened regardless, and during those times, it took Marinette her all to ignore the aching in her chest and the burning tears in her eyes. And each time, each time she tried not to choke on her sobs. 

In bed, she often curled up in a ball and tried to cry, but she’d run out of tears a week after her soulmate’s death. She dragged her nails down her legs, hoping to distract herself from the burning in her throat, but it never helped. 

She was hurting, and there was nothing that could help her feel better.

⬷۵⤐

It took a her a few months before she dared to look at her wrist again. She’d refused to do it under any circumstances, but after those months, she told herself she needed to bid her soulmate adieu. 

And so, she took off her glove and pressed a light kiss on the meter. Marinette looked at it and forced a small smile on her face, hoping he wouldn’t be too mad at her for faking a smile. After all, she was doing it for him. 

But, once she managed to bat the tears away from her eyes, she could clearly see the name on her wrist again. The meter’s levels were high again, which then prompted her to pay attention to the colours on her. At first she thought the universe had chosen her a new soulmate, but the name was exactly the same in the exact same handwriting, so no, her soulmate had simply come back to life. And… 

_She had a chance to see them again._

Either they’d only now come back or she’d been unable to notice them. It wouldn’t have been surprising, she _had_ been trying to ignore the missing colours to the best of her abilities, after all. 

Marinette rushed downstair to her maman and papa, smiling more brightly than she had in weeks, in over a month. They were surprised to see her be so happy but they were glad about it regardless. 

“So, what made you so happy, honey?”, her papa asked her as she danced around the living room before stopping in front of her parents. 

“He’s back! The meter shows high levels again, the name is back and I can _see colours again_!”, she laughed and threw herself at her papa, hugging him as tight as she could. Her maman came around and hugged them both, smiling into her hair. 

“I’m happy for you, qiānjīn. Your soulmate better never do this again or I will have to find them and exchange a few words with him about making you sad”, her maman told her as her papa squeezed them both. Marinette laughed at her mother, imagining her short mother glare at her soulmate she suspected was taller than either of them as she scolded him for hurting her little girl. 

Marinette knew she once again had a good chance at finding happiness, and so she smiled. A tear escaped her eye but, for the first time in a month, it wasn’t a tear of sadness, no. This time, it told the world of her happiness. 

⬷۵⤐

Years later, when she was 16 years of age and suffered under Lila’s reign in the class, she ran into a young man while trying to find the Wayne Enterprises and fell down on the ground. Her class had left her behind, but that was fine.

Well, it wasn’t, but she got to see more of the city, and that was certainly nice. 

Besides, better it was her who was left behind rather than anyone else, as she was the only one who could for sure defend herself if necessary. After all, she was Ladybug, she had been that for years already — she had enough training. 

“Je suis vraiment désolé— I mean, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to run into—” And then she had to cut herself off because the world shouldn’t look like what it did. 

There were colours. 

There were actual colours all around her. 

She could see the blue of the sky and the green of the trees. The cars that were of oh so many different, beautiful colours. 

And, when Marinette looked up from where she was, she could see the young man towering over her and offering a hand to help her up had frozen in place, but what truly mattered was that _she could see him in colours._ His green eyes stared at her before they softened at the sight of her as he understood who this was, and Marinette could feel her cheeks hearing up. 

“Does your— Does your name happen to be Damian?”

The man nodded before asking a question in return, “And can I suppose you are Marinette?”

Marinette smiled and gave him an enthusiastic “yes!”, grabbing Damian’s — her soulmate’s — hand and let him pull her up to her feet. “It’s lovely to finally meet you, soulmate.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! 
> 
> Do come scream at me on my [tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/) if you want to!


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